In 2008 the company „f/p design“ (f-p-design.com) among the team of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Fritz Frenkler (Chair of Industrial Design, TU Munich, https://www.id.ar.tum.de/en/chair-of-industrial-design/) published their „Design Formula“ which considers an overall & a general description about what every industrial design developed product includes in total.
Based on the first design formula of Gert Hildebrand (Mini, BMW Group) in 2006 the formula of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Fritz Frenkler describes industrial design results „d“ as a mathematical product of technology „Tech“, ergonomics „Erg“, sociology „Soc“, ecology „Eco“, psychology „Psych“ and philosophy „Phil“. This product is being exponentiated with an „indivdual“-factor. The term is embedded into an integral from function to form and this whole term again is dependent on a time-variable „t“ in relation to a one-/ two- / three or four-dimensional presentation (or characteristic).
The „Design Formula“ [Frenkler, 2008, source: TUM Forscher Alumni 2018 (pdf-page 141, German version of „Design Formula“), based on Hildebrand, 2006]
The shown formula uses the „function“- & „form“-variables as the beginning and ending values of the same integral, although function & form are two different variables of an industrial design product developing process. Moreover with the shown mathematical description one could vary neither product functions nor the depending product forms during a dynamic product development process although time t is a determing factor in this formula.
Because of the written reasons above an improved „Design Formula 2.0“ is being described as follows:
The „Design Formula 2.0“ [Martin Azzouni, 2018, based on Frenkler, 2008, source: TUM Forscher Alumni 2018, (pdf-page 141, German version of „Design Formula“)]
The new formula integrates the „function“-dependent variable „form“ first, which contains the industrial designer’s work activities & content of work. The variable „function“, which contains product requirements and properties, integrates after and is given by other product development teams from outside and/or the designer themself. Both variables can consider and follow the dynamic product development process during time for an optimised industrial design product result.
Now the formula improvement also shows harmonically the important „form follows function“-rule in industrial design.
Publication no. / Report no.: 2018_maz_000001